Life — February 16, 1911 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Political Cartoon Analysis This is a satirical cartoon criticizing child labor practices in factories. The image shows a grotesquely fat, well-fed businessman climbing a ladder toward a child laborer at a "Child Labor Factory" (visible on the building). The caption quotes a biblical verse: "A Little Child Shall Feed Them," attributed to "The Biblical Law as Interpreted by Employers of Child-Labor." The satire is sharp: employers justified exploiting children by twisting scripture to suggest children should support adults. Instead, the cartoon shows the reverse—wealthy factory owners literally feeding themselves on child labor, growing fat and prosperous while children toil. This mocks both the hypocrisy of invoking religion to justify exploitation and the grotesque inequality the system created. The cartoon advocates for child labor reform.